This looks like a simple fall flower pot. But, this pansy-planted container has a deeply buried secret.

Here’s a fast and rewarding way to plant a container with cool-weather annuals that naturally make way for spring daffodils. We made these with the kids in our ornamental horticulture 4H project and I think the kids are going to be pleasantly surprised when what they planted underneath their pansies show up in the spring!

What You’ll Need:

• Medium sized pot or container
• Potting soil
• Coffee filter (Optional)
• Organic fertilizer (Optional)
• 7 Daffodil (Narcissus) bulbs
• 6 pack of cool-weather annuals such as pansies (Viola) or snapdragons (Antirrhinum)

Plant Your Double Planted Flower Pot

1. If you have a coffee filter, you can place it at the bottom of your flower pot. The filter isn’t a necessity by any means, but it helps keep the soil in while letting the water drain out. Now, fill the container with about 3″ of potting soil.

2. Place the bulbs into the pot, doing your best to keep the bulb sides from touching each other. It’s not a deal-breaker if they do touch but it’s better to have a little soil in-between the bulbs.

3. Now fill the rest of the container with potting soil. At this point, if you’d like to sprinkle some organic bulb fertilizer into the soil, you can do that now — but again, it isn’t a big deal if you don’t.

4. Gently plant your cool-weather annuals into the pot. When you’re making the hole into the soil with your fingers, feel for a spot that’s in-between the daffodil bulbs. Plant as many in there as you’d like (or as many as you can fit), tap down the soil & water.

Enjoy your fall flowers and as they die back or stop blooming, your daffodil leaves will be waking up for the spring. Don’t be surprised if your pansies remain alive & re-bloom again, too.

In the middle of June, as we packed our entire home and yards for the big move to Hawk Hill, it dawned on us that most of the gardens would have to stay. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the vegetable gardens that I worked on every year that got to me. It was Phil.

“Phil”, our beloved philodendron that we placed into a HUGE pot out back had sunk his roots well beyond his pot. To attempt to take him with us would more than likely end up in disaster for Phil. So he was to stay behind at the mercy of the next family who moved into our home. He’d been with us for about fifteen years and five homes.

The ‘Weeping China Doll’ standard rose tree that husband-extraordinaire had given to me as an anniversary gift many, many years previously had been planted into the ground at this house, so she would stay behind, too. It was the same for the eight Japanese maples that husband-extraordinaire had coddled as little saplings and then found the perfect spot for them to live out their lives. They had grown large and were happy exactly where they were.

Actually, he wanted to hire some big digging something or other to come lift them out like with a crane or something — he’d really lost it by that time.

In fact, no matter how often I told him he was going to kill them digging them up while they were actively growing, it took a total stranger (okay, he was a Japanese maple nurseryman) at the SF Flower and Garden show to convince him not to do it and that dude managed it with a simple firm shake of the head.

Whatever.

So, there’s the sadness of letting many things go when you up-root your entire life. Yet on the very same day that we were coming to terms, a big box was delivered to our door. Proven Winners had sent us some brand-new baby plants to coo over and coddle. These plants were the first of our new beginning and I immediately potted every one of them into containers so that they could make the move with us. Granted, some of them would never see years in those pots — but they represented the exciting new things that were coming our way in our new home and I was thrilled at their timely arrival.

I placed the Hosta ‘Autumn Frost’ in a fat, glazed pot with Moneywort (Lysimachia) and Baby’s tears (Soleirolia) surrounding it.

In a rectangle terra cotta container I placed Hemerocallis ‘Going Bananas’, with two Superbells ‘Grape Punch’ (Calibrachoa) on either side of it.

Echinacea ‘Little Annie’ is living in a gorgeous little glazed container surrounded bu some ‘Elfin’ thyme.

And Spirea ‘Double Play Artist’ was flanked by a few Superbells ‘Cherry Star’ plants.

All of the beautiful Proven Winner plants have filled in and blossomed beautifully despite heatwave after heatwave.

There was more. And it almost made me forget for a moment what I was leaving behind. Almost. I did end up planting a darling, creamy-green philodendron in a half-barrel in the potager that we’ve dubbed “Little Phil”. He has a lot to live up to.

Photo by clif1066

I’ll admit, Northern California doesn’t see much in the way of snow (at least not in the lower elevations). But we are seeing Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) pop up all over the place right now. These are some of my favorite flowers in my yard. For some reason, I’m always surprised at how early they show up to the garden party – which is exactly what I need at this time of the year.

Don’t confuse Snowflakes with Snowdrops or Lily-of-the-Valley. We won’t see Snowdrops until the very late winter or early spring and Lily-of-the-Valley makes her debut in spring.

(I didn’t write the piece below; it was sent to me by my sister-in-law, Cindy Lou Who, who received it in an email.)

GOD:

Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago?

I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

St. FRANCIS:

It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:

Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:

Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:

The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:

Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it – sometimes twice a week.

GOD:

They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:

Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:

They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:

No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:

Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS:

Yes, Sir.

GOD:

These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:

You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:

What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It’s a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:

You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:

No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:

After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:

And where do they get this mulch?

ST FRANCIS:

They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:

Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE:

‘Dumb and Dumber’, Lord. It’s a story about….

GOD:

Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St Francis.

Photo by One Tree Hill Studios

Phot by Noel Zia Lee

There’s nothing like learning gardening skills at the knee of the uber-fabulous Mrs. Greenthumbs. There will never be another one like her – I’m okay with that.

“Most people tend to assume that the bees have no knowledge of the plant’s use of them and are only after the nectar. In other words, they are a bunch of unwitting stooges, slavishly servicing the carnal appetites of the flowers and getting no fun out of the experience at all. I don’t think so.

I have observed bees going from flower to flower in the garden, and they seem to be enjoying themselves enormously. I wouldn’t presume to know the thoughts and feelings of bees, but if I saw a bunch of teenagers sipping nectar, rolling around with their feet up in the air, covered with fragrant pollen, and then racing off to do it again and again, I would assume they are having a wonderful time and would probably call the police.”

~ Cassandra Danz/Mrs. Greenthumbs

If you didn’t have the pleasure of knowing her or reading her profound, completely serious, and scientific gardening books come see my review on the late, seriously great – Mrs. Greenthumbs.